The top line, Higgins and Hodgson were the only good forwards on the ice. I'm pleasantly surprised with Hodgson's improving play.

Luongo with another poor performance. He should have had the 3rd goal and could have saved a couple of others. Seems par for the course in early October. Thankfully we have Corey to limit his October starts.

So now Ballard is getting even less ice-time than he was last year.

Sturm has been shit so far, looking nothing like the player he used to be.

Lappy has been pretty solid so far and he has experience playing on the wing. He can help bring some speed, physicality, defensive ability and another good face-off man for the 3rd line.

When Raymond comes back, Lappy can shift back to the 4th line alongside Manny. This of course depends on how well Cody can play in a 3rd line role, but with a couple strong 2-way wingers it may be ok, and the 4th will also be strengthened.

Hopefully the Canucks have their legs back and are developing a better feel for the game, because they'll get eaten alive in Detroit if they take to the second half to get their legs going.

The positive first.....you know, because I'm such an optimistic kind of guy.....

Our powerplay was terrific. The Sedins are starting the season off in great form and are a continual threat.

Hodgson. I really liked what I saw from him tonight. He's skating faster and with more strength this year, he's got great vision and some really deft hands, he's shooting and getting it through to the net, and creating openings in the defense with his puck control, unfortunately he needs a couple of linemates that read his freestyle thinking more intuitively, Higgins is a smart player and I'm sure he'll gel with CoHo given a bit more time. I also was encouraged by the report that he may move to the wing and showed him practicing with Kesler (I think that's what I saw, PVR was jumping around alot tonight and that was one of the times).

Our forecheck was solid, we forced some good turnovers and made Philadelphia scramble a fair bit.

Our offense in general was good, if not for several posts and a crossbar (I think) that game has a different outcome, even allowing for the post that bailed us out at one point. Philly came in having allowed only a single goal so far this year, we potted 4 on a night where we really weren't at our best, and only showed up for around 20 minutes all told. This team can score, and they can do it almost at will when they get going.

Now for the less than positive.....

Our defensive coverage, not terrible, but not exactly rock solid.

Our PK, average at best.

Our coach, Luongo should have been done on the 4th goal. We battled to within one 3 times, and he couldn't close the door, we even tied it, and he gave up the winning goal less than a minute later. Even giving him a bye on the first and second goals, it was obvious the way this one started that it was not going to be Roberto's night in net. Call a spade a spade and quit giving up 2 points because you want to give your prize stallion a chance at redeeming himself.

Goaltending. Easily the worst part about this game. What has everyone been talking about in regards to Luongo of late? His ability to lock it down for the team when they need him to make "that save" to steal the game.....or at least give them the chance to snag a point. He couldn't do it. Granted there were 2 great shots that beat him tonight, but hey, the great goalies (you know the one's making $10M a year) find a way to stop at least one of those. He looked average on every goal tonight. Why he's doing this lay down and take away the bottom of the ice almost every time the puck gets in close is a mystery because it's not working. He doesn't move side to side with any kind of purpose or urgency. He makes terrible decisions with the puck (nothing new here). He's playing deep in his net but dropping into a butterfly that is more appropriate for a goalie who is playing a foot out in front of his crease and pucks are sneaking by him towards the low corners (fortunately tonight they all just missed). It was just pathetic to watch again tonight.

The positive does out-weigh the negative tonight though, even in the face of losing a game where had we put Schneider in after the 3rd goal we probably would have walked away with 2 points. Our team showed no sense of panic, we controlled the play when we wanted to. I'd also like to mention that Ballard played a better than average game, and his skating and willingness and ability to rush the puck and push the play through the neutral zone is really nice to see, hopefully he can get settled into a role that doesn't have him in AV's bad books. His defensive zone coverage was a bit loose tonight, but so was most of the team's.

Slot Raymond in on the 3rd/4th when he comes back and make him earn his minutes.

I think our second line would really benefit from Hodgson's creativity and puck control. Kesler and Higgins would be demons going to the net and filling the lanes with this guy feeding them the puck. If Hodson can play wing and find chemistry with Kesler, #17 could find himself scoring 45-50 goals (pro-rated to games played obviously). I really think Hodgson would be wasted on the 3rd line trying to setup guys that don't read the offensive zone the way Higgins and Kesler do, and have poor finish and need multiple chances like Hansen does.

Meds wrote:
I think our second line would really benefit from Hodgson's creativity and puck control. Kesler and Higgins would be demons going to the net and filling the lanes with this guy feeding them the puck. If Hodson can play wing and find chemistry with Kesler, #17 could find himself scoring 45-50 goals (pro-rated to games played obviously). I really think Hodgson would be wasted on the 3rd line trying to setup guys that don't read the offensive zone the way Higgins and Kesler do, and have poor finish and need multiple chances like Hansen does.

Samuelsson is terrible in a 3rd line role and I'm not the least bit sold on Hodgson playing the wing...at least not yet. I can definitely see Higgins playing with Kesler, but I'm not sure about Cody playing the wing, battling on the forecheck and in deep on a consistent basis. It's not easy transitioning to a playmaking role on the wing, especially on a line where Kesler dominates the puck.

Hansen is a guy who is a tremendous forechecker with sound passing skills who can open up the ice and set up Kes more than Cody can on the wing at this point. His finish has been lacking, but with Kes and Sammy both being shooters, it's not bad having a capable pass-first winger with them.

Raymond will likely start out on the 4th line to ease him in, but he'll be on the 3rd line, where I see him playing for the most part when he gets back.

Last edited by coco_canuck on Wed Oct 12, 2011 10:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Meds wrote:
Our coach, Luongo should have been done on the 4th goal. We battled to within one 3 times, and he couldn't close the door, we even tied it, and he gave up the winning goal less than a minute later. Even giving him a bye on the first and second goals, it was obvious the way this one started that it was not going to be Roberto's night in net. Call a spade a spade and quit giving up 2 points because you want to give your prize stallion a chance at redeeming himself.

I'm with ya here. It seems he either is good all game long or not. Once he starts looking mediocre, he doesnt seem to finish strong. He needs to be on a short leash since keeping him in on a bad night has never shown to be the appropriate decision. Pull him after 4 rather than keep him in for 7 and have a media field day with it. If you are worried about how it affects him psychologically, remember that it also affects the other players as well.

How about we be a little pragmatic and patient with the goalie situation.

First of all, consider the obvious, that we're only 3 games into the season, Roberto is a notorious slow starter who has been getting even less work than usual since camp, and the goal is to get Schneider more starts early in the year.

Also keep in mind that Luonogo and Schneider are already under the microscope to start the year.

Oh, and the final thing, unless we'll have a fast one pulled on us, Schneider will start tonight in Detroit.

With all that in mind, pulling Luongo last night wouldn't have been a smart move. Yes we want to win every regular season game, but it's not the time of year to win at all costs. You have to think of the long term ramifications of how you handle your goalies and not start an early precedent of pulling goalies after a couple weak goals this early in the year.

Unless either Corey or Roberto get completely aired out, it's smarter to let them play full games to work out their issues and get a better feel for the game. When the Canucks decided to only dress their vets 2 games, it was reasonable to expect them to start rather slowly with some rusty individual and team performances. So far that's what we're seeing. If this carries on for an extended period of time, then you start yanking the chain, but at this point, the goalies and the team will have to work through this.